OH-65: The earliest evidence for right-handedness in the fossil record

Frayer, David W.; Clarke, Ronald J.; Fiore, Ivana; Blumenschine, Robert J.; Pérez‐Pérez, Alejandro; Martínez, Laura M.; Estebaranz, Ferrán; Holloway, Ralph L.; Bondioli, Luca

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.07.002

Cited by 38 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Fiore et al [2015] argue that a similar analysis of all European Neanderthals produces a frequency of 90% of individuals exhibiting right-handedness, congruent with the distribution in extant humans. Data from the archaeological record also suggest that handedness may have been present in humans prior to 2 million years ago [Cashmore et al, 2008;Cashmore, 2009;Uomini, 2009;Frayer et al, 2016]. Combined, these data further support the notion that population-level handedness evolved prior to the evolution of modern humans.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Laterality of Grooming and Tool Use in a Group of Captive Bonobos (Pan paniscus)

Brand

Marchant²,

Boose³

et al. 2017

IJFP

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Humans exhibit population level handedness for the right hand; however, the evolution of this behavioral phenotype is poorly understood. Here, we compared the laterality of a simple task (grooming) and a complex task (tool use) to investigate whether increasing task difficulty elicited individual hand preference among a group of captive bonobos (Pan paniscus). Subjects were 17 bonobos housed at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. Laterality of grooming was recorded using group scans; tool use was recorded using all-occurrence sampling. Grooming was characterized as unimanual or bimanual, and both tasks were scored as right-handed or left-handed. Most individuals did not exhibit significant hand preference for unimanual or bimanual (asymmetrical hand use) grooming, although 1 individual was lateralized for each. For the 8 subjects who engaged in termite fishing enough for statistical testing, 7 individuals exhibited significant laterality and strong individual hand preference. Four subjects preferred their left hand, 3 preferred their right, and 1 had no preference. Grooming, a simple behavior, was not lateralized in this group, yet a more complex behavior revealed a strong individual hand preference, and these results are congruent with other recent findings that demonstrate complex tasks elicit hand preference in bonobos.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Laterality of Grooming and Tool Use in a Group of Captive Bonobos (Pan paniscus)

Brand

Marchant²,

Boose³

et al. 2017

IJFP

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“…differential structural reinforcements of the diaphysis (Ruff, 2008;Trinkaus and Ruff, 2012). Accordingly, even if we cannot discard here the possible influence on the endostructural bony arrangement of sex-related (or even of age-related) differences, nor that of a different handedness (for a recent discussion on hand specialization in early Homo, see Frayer et al, 2016; for its impact on humeral cross-sectional shape variation and cortical bone thickness distribution, see Lague, 2015 andVolpato et al, 2012, respectively), we anyhow assume that the two distinct conditions ("patterns") revealed by the South African and the Ethiopian specimens, whatever their taxonomic status, are primarily functionally-related and have biomechanical significance in terms of distal humeral strength.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Inner structural organization of the distal humerus in Paranthropus and Homo

Cazenave

Braga

Oettlé

et al. 2017

Comptes Rendus Palevol

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“…47,48 Next in age come the remains from the Gran Dolina TD6 at the Sierra de Atapuerca in Spain, dated at 860-936 kya. 47,48 Next in age come the remains from the Gran Dolina TD6 at the Sierra de Atapuerca in Spain, dated at 860-936 kya.…”

Section: Th E S Am P L Esmentioning

confidence: 99%

Right‐handed fossil humans

Lozano

Estalrrich

Bondioli

et al. 2017

Evolutionary Anthropology

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Fossil hominids often processed material held between their upper and lower teeth. Pulling with one hand and cutting with the other, they occasionally left impact cut marks on the lip (labial) surface of their incisors and canines. From these actions, it possible to determine the dominant hand used. The frequency of these oblique striations in an array of fossil hominins documents the typically modern pattern of 9 right- to 1 left-hander. This ratio among living Homo sapiens differs from that among chimpanzees and bonobos and more distant primate relatives. Together, all studies of living people affirm that dominant right-handedness is a uniquely modern human trait. The same pattern extends deep into our past. Thus far, the majority of inferred right-handed fossils come from Europe, but a single maxilla from a Homo habilis, OH-65, shows a predominance of right oblique scratches, thus extending right-handedness into the early Pleistocene of Africa. Other studies show right-handedness in more recent African, Chinese, and Levantine fossils, but the sample compiled for non-European fossil specimens remains small. Fossil specimens from Sima del los Huesos and a variety of European Neandertal sites are predominately right-handed. We argue the 9:1 handedness ratio in Neandertals and the earlier inhabitants of Europe constitutes evidence for a modern pattern of handedness well before the appearance of modern Homo sapiens.

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OH-65: The earliest evidence for right-handedness in the fossil record

Cited by 38 publications

References 48 publications

Laterality of Grooming and Tool Use in a Group of Captive Bonobos (Pan paniscus)

Laterality of Grooming and Tool Use in a Group of Captive Bonobos (Pan paniscus)

Inner structural organization of the distal humerus in Paranthropus and Homo

Right‐handed fossil humans

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